


Late Nights and Responsibility

by TsaritsaElena



Series: Superfamily Prompts [3]
Category: The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Superfamily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-03
Updated: 2014-04-03
Packaged: 2018-01-18 00:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1408231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsaritsaElena/pseuds/TsaritsaElena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the following prompt: <i>Peter pulls some stupid Spider-Man stunt and Tony and Steve flip out and ground him.</i></p><p>In which Steve gives Peter the Uncle Ben Lecture.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Late Nights and Responsibility

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to my Tumblr, cleaned up and posted here.
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I don’t own any of these characters or copyrighted material, and I’m certainly not making any money or other material profit off of this fanfiction. No copyright infringement is intended.

High school senior Peter Parker yawned as he got up and ambled down the stairs for breakfast. He would have liked to sleep more, but it was already noon on a Saturday and he wanted to buy Gwen a birthday present before heading to her party that night. Peter soon realized he was alone in the house so he made himself a bagel with cream cheese and half an hour later, coffee cup in hand, he felt human enough to get ready to go out.

The next time he went downstairs, he found that his parents had returned and they were both seated at the kitchen table.

“Hi Dad, hi Pops. I’m going out for a while, see you later!”

“ _Peter_.” Just one word from Pops in a low, stern voice stopped Peter in his tracks.

“You’re not going anywhere, kiddo,” added his dad.

“Have a seat, Peter. We need to Talk.” Uh Oh. That was “Talk” with a capital “T” from Pops and Peter knew he was in Big Trouble (with a capital “BT”). Peter reluctantly sat down at the kitchen table, wondering what he could be in trouble for.

That was made immediately clear as Pops thrust the morning paper in front of him. “Mystery Figure Takes Nighttime Swing Across Brooklyn Bridge” read the front page headline, complete with a late night photograph of a figure outlined in shadow _swinging_ from cable to cable.

Peter winced. That was definitely him and he’d definitely gone on a nighttime stroll at 3 A.M. two nights ago when he couldn’t sleep. Quite frankly he was surprised the _Daily Bugle_ hadn’t printed the picture earlier. Then again, he _had_ been out at three in the morning and it likely wouldn’t have been enough time to make the morning paper deadline.

“Did you know climbing the Brooklyn Bridge is _illegal_ , Peter?” asked Pops.

“It is?!” Damn, now he wished he’d made an effort to obscure his features on his nighttime jaunt.

“ _Yes._ I already talked to SHIELD, who convinced the NYPD to drop the investigation.” Pops sounded irritated and Peter guessed that’s where he and Dad had been that morning.

“Illegality aside,” his Dad interrupted, “what did you think you were doing, Peter?! You know better than to try stunts like this with your abilities. You could have been killed!”

After a genetically enhanced spider bite a few months ago, both his dad and his pops knew about his spider-like abilities. However, they’d been very clear on _when_ he could and could not use it, and _what_ he could and could not use it for. Having acquired a unique and cool ability, Peter chafed under their rules and didn’t always abide by them.

“Well I’m _fine_! And it’s not like you never take the armor for a joyride, Dad!” Peter accused. He couldn’t believe the hypocrisy!

“There’s no such thing as a joyride in the Iron Man suit,” his dad bristled.

Peter snorted. “Yeah right,” he muttered under his breath.

His dad went on, “If I want to take a test flight, I have to get air traffic clearance, and I _tell_ someone where I’m going. You’re still learning how to use your abilities and don’t tell me you have it under control because I saw you accidentally drop from the living room ceiling last week! What if you _had_ missed a web and fallen last night? You could have been hurt from the fall or hit by an oncoming car or _worse_ and your pops and I would have _no idea_ because you snuck off in the middle of the night!”

Okay, his dad might be right about that part. Peter winced and he felt a twinge of guilt now that he realized his parents were worried about him on his nighttime escapade.

“I’m disappointed in you, Peter,” said Pops. “Not only did you break curfew and sneak out of the house to _endanger yourself_ , you did it for what amounts to a _joyride_. I know your dad might abuse his ‘test flight’ privileges on occasion,” he glanced at his husband quickly, “but he’s a part a team that _defends_ our world. He uses his technology to help others, the same way I joined SHIELD to protect people.”

“Over my dead body! Peter’s not joining SHIELD!” his Dad exclaimed.

Pops shot him a look. “It was an _example_ , Tony.” Turning back to Peter, “I’m not saying you _have_ to join SHIELD or law enforcement. You didn’t ask for your abilities. If you want to live a normal life, you can. That’s one thing. But if you’re gonna use your powers, I hope you do it for the _right_ reasons. We’ve always raised you to help others when and if you can. Having powers only heightens that responsibility. Taking ‘em on a _joyride_? That’s not the behavior we expect from you. Is there somethin’ goin’ on here you’re not tellin’ us, Peter?”

Now Peter felt even worse about what he’d done. Trust Pops to lay on the guilt trip. “I guess what I really wanted was a challenge to practice on,” he admitted. “This is still kinda new and I want to know what I can do with it, what are my limits. I’m tired of webbing something by accident. It’s getting awkward at school.”

“That’s fair.” Pops nodded, looking thoughtful. “I can get you practice time at the Triskelion’s facilities so you can learn to control your abilities. Sound good?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Pops.”

“You’re welcome. But you’re still not off the hook.”

Peter groaned.

“You broke curfew and you weren’t where we thought you were. Because we can’t trust you to tell us where you are, you’re grounded this weekend.”

“But that means—”

“You’ll miss Gwen’s party,” Pops confirmed. “That’s the point.”

“But _Pops!_ ” he whined. This sucked a lot. He’d been looking forward to Gwen’s party for the last two weeks and he’d promised Gwen!

“I don’t want to hear any complaining. Be glad I didn’t listen to your dad’s suggestion for punishment.”

“I wanted to take away your phone and computer privileges for a week,” Dad explained.

Peter looked at him in horror. “You wouldn’t! That’s like my whole  _social_   _life_  right there!”

Dad shrugged. “Your Pops said the punishment had to match the crime. Remember that the next time you think of breaking the few rules we have set for you.”

“Duly noted,” mumbled Peter. “I guess I have to call Gwen now, huh?”

“You do,” his parents said in unison.

Peter excused himself and went upstairs to make the call. Gwen wasn’t happy, but she understood what happened and didn’t hold it against Peter, which was a relief.

He flopped onto his bed with a sigh, replaying Pops’ words in his head. Up until now, Peter had only thought about the cool tricks and stunts he could do with the webbing. He hadn’t thought about using it to help others.  Peter had always wanted to be a superhero, ever since he was six and understood that’s what his parents did for a living. On the other hand, Peter also wanted to be a normal teenager and have a girlfriend and friends and go to college. Did he have to give all of it up if he wanted to be a superhero? _Should_ he give it all up? Could he juggle school and superheroing? Peter didn’t know. He rolled over with a sigh. Well, now that he was grounded, at least he’d have all weekend to think about it.

 _Fin_.


End file.
